ROCKLAND — If you are in the market for a way to have fun on the water, start your search at this year’s Maine Boat & Home Show, Aug. 7–9, at Rockland Harbor Park. With more than 70 boats — sail and power, big and small — lining the docks and waterfront, the Show offers the chance to compare features, talk to experts, and step aboard rather than “experience” your dream boat on some screen.

And in addition to the scores of vessels for sale, there will be three boats — “The Icons” — that will be there simply for viewing pleasure. They are vessels that were invited to the show because of their roots, planted deep on the Maine coast.

On Friday, visitors can board a working Friendship sloop, the Sarah Mead, and learn how fishermen once hauled their traps under sail on the Midcoast, before motorized workboats arrived and changed the way seafood is harvested.

The Sarah Mead is the latest addition to the Rockland-based A Morning in Maine’s fleet. Along with the ketch Morning in Maine, these passenger boats cruise daily from Middle Pier.

On Saturday and Sunday, the schooner Harvey Gamage will be on display, and visitors are welcome to board and learn about both the boat and The Maine Learning Project. The 131-foot Gamage was built in South Bristol and launched in 1973 with a mission of providing education at sea. Step aboard, look around, and get the full story of what this traditional schooner offers students from across the state.

The third Icon vessel, the Koloa Maoli, is a different sort of craft, an Open 40-class race boat designed to sail fast, and if skipper Ronnie Simpson has his way, win the 2027 Global Solo Challenge, a singlehanded, non-stop race around the world.

In 2023-24, Simpson raced in the inaugural Global Solo aboard the Open 50 Shipyard Brewing and was near the head of the fleet when the boat was dismasted in treacherous weather after rounding Cape Horn, off the coast of South America and on the last leg home.

Simpson, a combat-wounded marine veteran from the Iraq War, has thousands of short- and single-handed miles in his wake. He has prepped both his race boats at the Maine Yacht Center in Portland, and he will be onboard throughout the show to give tours of the Koloa Maoli and tell stories and answer questions. He’ll also make daily appearances as a speaker during the boat show seminar series Friday and Saturday.

This year’s Maine Boat & Home Show will also feature a number of Maine-built boats.

Local builders include Hinckley, Back Cove and Sabre Yachts, Southport Boats, Ellis Boat Company, Lyman-Morse, a Chuck Paine-designed York 18, and the John Williams Boat Company with a Stanley.

Many more area boat dealers that carry American and international brands will have boats on display as well, ranging from coastal cruisers to center consoles and salty looking runabouts, including two Jericho Bay Lobster Skiffs, one of which was built at the Landing School. The skiffs will be the focus of a Friday afternoon seminar that explores the evolution of the boats’ design.

The Maine Boat & Home Show, hosted by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, is celebrating its 21st year on the Rockland waterfront. For information about tickets, a full list of exhibitors, and the seminar and events schedule visit maineboats.com/boatshow.